[TysonJones]

Now I was very impressed with berto tonight and he is one of my favorite fighters. I believe he was my PYP, and he was the first to become world champ. He is no longer a prospect. He is the WBC welterweight champ by default. But he's still champ. Now lets talk boxing.

Right now, I dont think he beats cotto, margarito, williams or even shane mosley.

But I do feel he's ready for clottey, collazo, judah, quintana. Those would be great people for him to defend his title against until he's ready for the big guys.

However, I feel berto has THE TOOLS to defeat all the welterweights. He COULD hurt cotto. He COULD box circles around margy, and he COULD punish williams on the inside, and he COULD catch an old mosley and just out fight him. Its all in the realm of possibility.

So guys, lets talk about this guy.

 

[Icantbox]

He definitely has the tools. His future will be based on his life decisions and how hard he trains. Hoenstly when he puts it together I think only Berto can beat berto.

 

[TysonJones]

Well I have a good feeling berto will train like floyd does basically, but my only fear is that cotto and margy and even williams have the ability to knock him out as well, because he does get him. But then again all 3 of those guys get hit as well.

 

[bucknutz]

I thought he looked very sharp tonight, but i agree Shane he need's to wait a bit before
he get's in there with the big boys every time i see Berto he look's more and more
impressive :thumbsup:

 

[Guest]

I saw some of the fight on sopcast and he impressed me again. It's too early to throw him in with the top 4 WW's but I think he beats the rest of the guys.

 

[TommyGunn]

That upercut was textbook perfection. He started slow but when he started to put his combos together he impressed me a lot.

He's not ready for the big boys yet. That division is to deep.

Lets see him fight Carlos Quintana next, that should tell us all we want to know.

 

[TysonJones]

i'd like to see him fight clottey or judah next for another belt. I think he knocks quintana out in 3 or 4.

 

[Violent Demise]

His hand speed is very impressive. His power is a little lacking. He hit Rodriguez with a bunch of clean flush punches. That upper cut was a beauty.

 

[TysonJones]

miki has a sturdy chin, berto wasn't putting everything into his punches, he would punch and pull alot.

 

[Captainobvious]

Hes got flaws that need to be worked on. First, he needs to keep his hands up more. He needs to stop moving backward with his hands down, and he is flat footed. There are times when you see him move laterally to work a combination, so he's certainly capable of doing it, but he does need to work on that in training. He also needs to finish his punches a bit better at times because he does pull them away as Lance said.

All in all, he looked good tonight,albeit against a somewhat weak opponent.
I'd like to see him against a quintana or Judah as well.

 

[TysonJones]

Agreed, but i dont think quintana's or judah's chin is as sturdy as miki's. And against berto, a weak chin will be devastating. His defense was much better tonight. He's adopting floyds style of defense and a little bit of winky. It's working, it can only get better.

 

[TysonJones]

Berto was just on espn news and he was talked about as "replacing mayweather"

Untrue, but at least boxing was put on the map again tonight.

 

[TommyGunn]

Berto is never going to beat guys like Cotto and Margarito. He's very good but not elite.

He wont improve much more than the level he's fighting at now.

 

[TysonJones]

we'll see. Some said he would never be champion.......

 

[TommyGunn]

we'll see. Some said he would never be champion.......

It was a vacant title against a crap fighter.

 

[Rotten Apple]

Berto is never going to beat guys like Cotto and Margarito. He's very good but not elite.

He wont improve much more than the level he's fighting at now.

I agree. I think both those guys would just bully Berto around.

 

[Meltdown50]

Berto was GREAT. The only thing that i didn't like about berto is after the 2nd or 3rd round, between rounds he went back to his corner and seemed concerned with a small bruise/bump near his eye asking his corner things like: "how bad is it?" not that he was injured or anything, almost just complaining about it, like it was painful or something. now this bothered me because he wasn't acting like a "Fighter" it was something a really tough durable guy would have complained about.

I dunno, i know its over reacting.. more just like a little pet peeve kind of thing.

-Ian

 

[no dice nate]

That uppercut was a thing of beauty. I've been impressed with Berto's reflexes and the power he has in both hands. He's also showing that he has the sound footwork to somewhat limit his size disadvantage. As good as he's looked, though, I won't be sold on him 'til he faces a legitimate contender. Obviously, Rodriguez was basically another Lockett-esque mandatory. Maybe it's unfair to compare him to the Welshman, but oh well. I definitely see a fight with a Collazo or Cintron type as the next logical step for him. Seeing him in the ring with Paul Williams would be the epitome of David versus Goliath, so I'm all for that. I know he's got a title now, but I don't recognize him as a titleist, much less a champion. He didn't beat THE guy, he just beat A guy that a sanctioning body handed him. The quality of his opposition is highly suspect as this point. Obviously he's a little more battle tested than Lorenzo who we saw last night, but still, I'm sorry, a win over Cosme Rivera doesn't do all that much for me.

 

[Captainobvious]

I agree nate.

I think he still has alot to prove. I really like him as a fighter and hes very exciting to watch, but he does have flaws as mentioned above and the top guys in the division would give him some trouble.

Cotto would likely KO him becuase his movement and defense need some work still.

Margarito would likely win a decision because he has a great chin, would take his shots well, and would likely outwork the counter-punching style of Berto.

Floyd, well Floyd would simply outbox him, maybe even get him out of there early.

Mosley would be an interesting fight. Both have good power and speed, although I'd say Berto wins out in these categories at this point in Shanes career. Shane is the smarter boxer so it would be a great fight.

Judah and Quintana would probably both be KO victims of Berto's power. Cintron would probably fall into this category as well, unless he could land that lucky punch.

I think a fight against any of those last three would be a good step up in competition and should probably be the target for the Berto camp.

 

[no dice nate]

Ahh, I forgot all about Zab Judah. Maybe if he's done getting savagely attacked by shower doors, he could put on a decent show against Clottey. Whatever the result, though, the winner of that fight would present a nice challenge for Berto and would be a good measure for where he is against upper echelon guys.